Saturday, July 27, 2013

Macau. Part 2.1: Where to stay? Venetian Hotel (Introduction Post)...


Macau, some say it's Oriental Las Vegas. It has lots of established and magnificent hotels, with nice and grand ambience. A centre for leisure... 

Hotel Lisboa
MGM
Wynn Hotel
Hardrock+ Crown + City of dreams
Galaxy hotel


Almost all hotels in Macau, have integrated casinos, restaurants and established ones have their own shuttle bus service to all ports of entry.

Tourists can choose to stay either in Macau Peninsula or Taipa+ Coloane region (a.k.a Cotai). 

Macau Peninsula: Mainly where all touristy sites are, and where Macau prosperous state started... 

Cotai: Newly developed district with luxurious hotels and a glimpse of Macau's culture and speciality.
           
For two of my visits to Macau, i have stayed at Venetian Hotel, and i loved it so much... Hence, i shall share my experience there with all of you. Take it as a reference, for choosing your accommodation in Macau.


The Venetian Macao Resort- Hotel



Venetian; as you can tell from its name, it's Venice themed designed resort-hotel located at Cotai central. It's an integrated resort consisting of 3000 luxurious rooms, casino, convention & exhibition halls, shopping malls, and more... It's an entertainment and leisure hub thats suits everyone. 

It also provides free shuttle services from all ports of entry to Macau.
Shuttle service at ferry terminal
So no matter how you arrived in Macau, be it from HK through ferry/ helicopter; from China Zhuhai via border gates or directly arriving at Macau International Airport... There are shuttle services bringing you to this majestic resort-hotel.

Shuttle pick up point from Venetian
Venetian Shuttle Bus
Shuttle alighting point: Hotel Main Lobby
Shuttle boarding point: Hotel West Lobby


Hotel Main Lobby; Golden ball
Hotel Great Hall


The great hall, also the center of the hotel, surrounding it on level 1 will be the casinos and level 3 will be the retail shops and restaurants. Taking the great hall as the center point, it can leads you to the different streets of retail and restaurants and also to the North/ South Hotel suites.   


Venetian style 
Venetian interior design

wanna get a ride?
Lobby walkway


Public restroom

 
Public restroom


Venetian has everything under one roof, be there to experience, to discover more... 






Any enquiries, can always email me: lene_pork_89@hotmail.com




Coming up next... Venetian Hotel Room...


Can also visit Venetian website: http://www.venetianmacao.com/

Thursday, July 04, 2013

Macau. Part 1: Getting to & Upon arrival at Macau...




What's the first thing that comes to your mind when anyone mentioned about Macau?

To be frank, before i started visiting and loving it 2-3 years ago, to me it's just a touristy spot filled with casinos for the gamblers.


However after experiencing Macau i began to love it and realized it has more than what we thought it could offer...










Macau....
Being a former Portuguese colony, Macau has a strong Portuguese cultural background with a mixture of Chinese history. Macau comprises of Macau Peninsula (澳門半島), two connecting islands (after land reclamation) Taipa (氹仔) & Coloane (路環).

There are many ports of entry into Macau.

Eg. -Arriving via ferry through ferry terminals from HongKong or China
       - Arriving via flight through Macau International Airport
       - Arriving via Portas do Cerco (means The border gate; 關閘) from Gong Bei in ZhuHai, China
       - Arriving via Helicopter from HongKong

Listing are the more common ways of arriving at Macau for tourists:

1) Arriving via ferry from HongKong

There are two majors ferry terminals ferries could arrive from HK.

 Taipa Ferry Terminal 氹仔客運碼頭  &  The Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal 外港客運碼頭

As mentioned before in my previous HK post;

From HK: take ferry from Shun Tak Centre 信德中心 level 3 at Sheung Wan上環. (Sheung Wan station exit D)





Each economy ferry ticket cost approx: HKD$148- HKD$195/ one way trip. 
The whole ferry journey takes around an hour from HK-Macau.
(ps. get round trip ticket if you are traveling to and fro Macau/HK within same day on weekends or public holidays, the crowd can be that much that you might not be able to get any ticket.) 

(There are many other ferry terminals in HK that can get to Macau too. Eg. Tsim Sha Tsui and HK Airport)


2) Arriving at Macau International Airport 

Macau has a very small airport, with limited airlines in operation making it less busy/crowded compared to other city's major airports. It's located at Taipa. 
And the only direct flight from Singapore to Macau is via TigerAirways.






Ps. Airport provides free WIFI...


3) Arriving via the Border Gate from ZhuHai, China


It is just within walking distance crossing the border from Gongbei, ZhuHai to Macau. 








Upon arrival to Macau via any of the above ports of entry, there are free hotel shuttle buses bringing you to your hotels. Even if you are not guest of any hotel, you can still board ones that gets nearest to your destination. On the other hand, cabs are easily available outside the ports. 

Cabs in Macau are consider affordable and economy. With a starting rate of MOP$15. 
If i am not wrong there isn't any surcharge eg. peak hour; airport surcharge; midnight charge... 









It's simple and convenient getting to Macau... 
However do anticipate large crowds while crossing the borders or any ports of entry during weekends or public holidays.
Fast actions and patience are what you need then. :P 






Coming up next... Where to stay in Macau?